


Before Sunrise ; a ChenJi au (Discontinued)

by sungiesplanet



Series: Before Trilogy: Before Sunrise, Sunset, or Midnight? Let's take a walk. [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: 90s, 90s AU, Alternate Universe - 1990s, Alternate Universe - Before Sunrise Fusion, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst with a Happy Ending, Before Sunrise, ChenJi, Drama, Falling in love with a stranger, Fluff and Angst, Jichen, Light Angst, M/M, Park Jisung (NCT) is Whipped, Romantic Comedy, Soul-Searching, Strangers to Lovers, Sungle, Yearning, Zhong Chen Le-centric, bxb - Freeform, chenle - Freeform, chensung - Freeform, dream - Freeform, indie, indie fic, indie film, jisung - Freeform, lele - Freeform, mlm, nct - Freeform, park jisung - Freeform, zhong chenle - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:13:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26212462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sungiesplanet/pseuds/sungiesplanet
Summary: On his way to Vienna, Park Jisung, meets Zhong Chenle, a student returning to Paris. After long conversations forge a surprising connection between them, Jisung convinces Chenle to get off the train with him in Vienna. Since his flight to the U.S. departs the next morning and he has no money for lodging, they wander the city together, taking in the experiences of Vienna and each other. As the night progresses, their bond makes separating in the morning a difficult choice.
Relationships: Park Jisung/Zhong Chen Le
Series: Before Trilogy: Before Sunrise, Sunset, or Midnight? Let's take a walk. [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1903681
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	1. fading in: In a train

FADE IN: 

**IN A TRAIN, ONE AFTERNOON**

The Eu-rail rolls along. Inside, passengers sleep, read, and stare out the windows. A few walk up and down the aisles. Chenle, a young man in his mid-twenties, is curled up in his seat reading Georges Bataill’s Story of the Eye. Strikingly attractive, he plays it down barefaced, a loose-fitting vintage black overall jumper with a white shirt underneath, and flat shoes. He continues reading while taking an occasional bite of a chocolate bar. Sitting four rows back and on the other side of the aisle, Jisung, also in his mid-twenties, is engrossed in Klaus Kinski’s memoir, All I Need Is Love. Casually good looking but a little scruffy, he dresses in a baggy jeans and Flannel-Over-A-T-shirt mode. Suddenly a couple, two forty-ish types who have been arguing semi quietly in the seat behind Chenle, start yelling at each other in German. The WIFE takes a swipe at the newspaper the HUSBAND has been screening him behind. 

> **_Wife: Will you put down that damn newspaper and listen to me?_ **
> 
> **_Husband : What have I been doing the last thirty minutes? Would you shut up for Chrissake?_ **
> 
> **_Wife: You shut up! How dare you tell me to shut up! It’s the same damn thing all over again! I can’t believe--_ **
> 
> **_Husband: I said shut up! I’m putting down my newspaper and telling you to shut up._ **

Chenle suddenly gets up, grabs his bag, and starts looking for another seat. A few rows back, he finds a seat across the aisle from Jisung. Before sitting down, they make brief eye contact and kind of shake their heads and smile at the tension. Just as he settles in and goes back to his book, the wife gets up and storms down the aisle. Jisung and Chenle follow her with their eyes, and as she passes them, they find they are looking right at each other. Jisung makes a funny “uh oh” face.

> **_Jisung: Do you have any idea what they’re arguing about? Do you speak English?_ **
> 
> **_Chenle:Yes. But no, I don’t know. My German is not that good. Have you ever heard that as couples get older they lose their ability to hear each other?_ **
> 
> **_Jisung: Really?_ **
> 
> **_Chenle: Supposedly,_** **_men lose their ability to hear higher-pitched sounds and women eventually lose hearing on the low end. I guess they sort of nullify each other or something. Jisung: Must be nature’s way of allowing couples to grow old together and not kill each other, I guess._**

There’s a slightly awkward moment where they don’t know if they should continue talking or not. Chenle glances back down at his book but Jisung keeps looking at him. 

> **_Jisung: What are you reading?_ **

Chenle holds up the book so he can see what it is.

> **_Chenle: How about you?_ **

Jisung shows him what he’s reading. Neither has much to say about the other’s reading material. 

> **_Chenle: There are so many weird people on the train, no? Last week on my way to Budapest I was sitting and talking with four other people in the lounge car and it turned out that three of them had killed people._ **
> 
> **_Jisung: No way._ **
> 
> **_Chenle: Really. One was a war veteran, one had murdered her boyfriend, and another had caused a bad car wreck._ **
> 
> **_Jisung: So you were the only one who hadn’t killed anyone?_ **
> 
> **_Chenle: No, I was one of them. Which one do you think?_ **

He laughs and Jisung slowly joins him.

> **_Jisung: I know what you mean. I’ve met some weirdos. There was this British guy sitting across from me the other day who kept throwing his body against the back of his chair, yelling about how we should all join together and stop the train. He was saying, “Everybody, now, we can stop technology. All together...”_ **
> 
> **_Chenle: So what happened?_ **

He demonstrates by throwing his body against his seat. 

> **_Jisung: And you know, me and a few others tried for a while, but we couldn’t stop technology. The wife who stormed away earlier suddenly comes back and the argument resumes, right in front of them… I was thinking about going to the lounge car sometimes soon. You wanna go?_ **
> 
> **_Chenle: We better._ **

They get up and walk to the door of their car. He pushes the DOOR OPEN button, and as the door opens, he extends his hand toward him.

> **_Jisung: ..It’s Sung. It’s Jisung Park, actually, but my whole life everyone’s called me Just Sung._ **
> 
> **_Chenle : Jisung Park?_ **
> 
> **_Jisung: No, just Jisung._ **
> 
> **_Chenle: Chenle._ **

They proceed through the door and Chenle pushes the DOOR OPEN button to enter the next car. There is some confusion as to who is opening the door for whom, before Chenle proceeds and Jisung follows him toward the lounge car.


	2. In The Lounge Car

**IN THE LOUNGE CAR - THAT AFTERNOON**

They sit at a table, eating chips and taking an occasional swig from a drink. 

> **_Jisung: So how do you speak such good Korean and English?_ **
> 
> **_Chenle: I went to school for a summer in Seoul and I’ve spent some time in London. How do you speak such good Korean?_ **
> 
> **_Jisung: I’m Korean-American._ **
> 
> **_Chenle: I know. I can tell. It’s a joke. I knew you were Korean, and, of course, you don’t speak any other languages. Jisung: Yeah, yeah, I’m the dumb, vulgar American who has no culture. But I tried. I want you to know I took four years of French. I tried, I was ready. When I was in Paris, I was standing in line at the metro going, “Un billet, s’il vous plaît... Un billet, s’il vous plaît.” And then I got up to the window, I looked up at the lady and blanked out. “Uh, uh, I need a ticket for the subway.” No more French for me._ **

Chenle laughs.

> **_Jisung: So where are you headed?_ **
> 
> **_Chenle: Back to Paris. My class starts next week._ **
> 
> **_Jisung: Where do you go to school?_ **
> 
> **_Chenle: La Sorbonne. You know?_ **
> 
> **_Jisung: Sure. But you were in Budapest?_ **
> 
> **_Chenle: Yeah, I was visiting my grandmother._ **
> 
> **_Jisung: How is she?_ **
> 
> **_Chenle: Okay. How about you - where are you going?_ **
> 
> **_Jisung: Vienna._ **
> 
> **_Chenle: What’s there?_ **
> 
> **_Jisung: I don’t know. I’m flying out of there tomorrow morning._ **
> 
> **_Chenle: Are you on a holiday?_ **
> 
> **_Jisung: I don’t know what I’m on. I’ve just been traveling around the last two or three weeks. Chenle: Were you visiting friends, or just going around on your own?_ **
> 
> **_Jisung: I visited a friend in Madrid for a while, but mostly I’ve just been... (new thought) I got one of those Eurail passes, and you know what’s fascinating about traveling around? You spend all this time trying to reach your destination, you get there, you look around, it’s never exactly what you’d hoped, you head off somewhere else, and hope for something better._ **
> 
> **_Chenle: It’s like getting ready for a party, getting there, and falling asleep. That’s why when I’m traveling I kind of force myself not to expect anything from anywhere or anyone. And then, whatever happens is a surprise. The most insignificant thing can become an endless subject of interest, no?_ **
> 
> **_Jisung: That’s what I like about traveling - you can sit down, maybe talk to someone interesting, see something beautiful, read a good book, and that’s enough to qualify a good day. You do that at home and everyone thinks you’re a bum._ **
> 
> **_Chenle: I like that though. But it’s like my favorite American writers. They describe everything you wouldn’t want to live through, and yet you cannot stop reading about this exciting, boring life._ **
> 
> **_Jisung: So what do you study?_ **
> 
> **_Chenle: Literature. And music- Cello performance and Piano, to be exact. But I haven’t decided yet what I really want to do._ **
> 
> **_Jisung: Do you want to write?_ **
> 
> **_Chenle: Yeah, but... (new thought) I kind of had this obsession a few years ago about creating a new form of expression. It was of course an abstract and lost quest, but I was feeling all art forms seemed used up. I was especially rejecting words. They seemed so rusted and dirty. And they’ve been used for such evil ends. Sometimes, you know, language is so limited. It’s like...if you think about it... *He holds his hands out fairly wide and round* This is an individual’s mental experience and perception and... *He holds his hands together and forms a small circle* This is how much can be expressed through language. We just don’t have words for so many of the impressions we have. *He parts his hands and gestures to the large outer circle* So most of our life we will never be able to express to anyone._ **

They sit there for an extended moment, neither sure what to say next. Suddenly Jisung smiles and jokingly starts to get up. 

> **_Jisung: So I guess...that’s it - it’s been nice not communicating with you._ **

They both laugh. 

> **_Jisung: Really, though, I basically agree with you, and maybe it’s a sad face of life, but I think it doesn’t bother me that much. Maybe I’m wrong about this, but I think that lack of communication frustrates women more than men._ **
> 
> **_Chenle: Yes, because men are perfectly content to sit in front of TV all day drinking beer and watching sports._ **
> 
> **_Jisung: Yeah, that’s true, but have you ever done that? I did it once with a friend of mine. Drank some beer, had some chips, and watched a couple of games. It was the first time in years I literally jumped for joy. On some level it’s sticking your head in the sand, but on another I think it must serve some tribal purpose._ **
> 
> **_Chenle: I actually agree with you. I kind of like sports. Basketball, actually. It’s one of these few times when men are treated like stupid objects...I’m joking. So you haven’t told me what you do. Are you still in school?_ **
> 
> **_Jisung: Nah, I never graduated from college._ **
> 
> **_Chenle: Are you working?_ **
> 
> **_Jisung: I have a stupid job like everyone else._ **
> 
> **_Chenle: Is it boring? You’re not happy?_ **
> 
> **_Jisung: No, it’s a decent job. I don’t get paid that much. I don’t do that much._ **
> 
> **_Chenle: So what is the job? Jisung I write for a newspaper, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, for their dancing school, and pretty much get to do what I want there creatively, sometimes when I have the chance I'm offered to to give a dancing class, so it’s okay._ **
> 
> **_Chenle: So you write?_ **
> 
> **_Jisung Kinda._ **
> 
> **_Chenle: So has this trip been good for you?_ **
> 
> **_Jisung: Yeah. I mean, on one level, it sucked, but sitting on a train and staring out the window for days on end has actually been kind of great._ **
> 
> **_Chenle What do you mean?_ **
> 
> **_Jisung: I’ve had an idea I probably would never have had otherwise. Can I tell you about it? Chenle: Yes._ **
> 
> **_Jisung: Some friends of mine are these cable access producers - you know, anyone can produce a program, and they have to show it. I got really jazzed about it. I imagined a show I want to produce that would last an entire year, twenty-four hours a day. I want to get 365 different video producers around the world to each make their own twenty-four hour-long document of real time, capturing life around them just as it is lived. So it’d be people waking up, taking a long shower, getting a cup of coffee and reading the paper for twenty minutes, a long drive to work._ **
> 
> **_Chenle: You mean all those boring, mundane things everyone has to do every day of their life?_ **
> 
> **_Jisung: I was going to say the poetry of day-to-day life. I mean, Why is your dog so great just for sleeping in the sun? And a guy getting money out of a bank machine is a moron?_ **
> 
> **_Chenle: So you can put on the TV at any time of the day and see what other people are doing at the same time._ **
> 
> **_Jisung: Right. It’s like parallel lives._ **
> 
> **_Chenle: That’s great. I once lived in a big apartment I was sharing with friends, and we could see ten other apartments from the window. I would cut down the light, sit at the window, and watch them sitting on a couch doing nothing. It was fascinating._ **
> 
> **_Jisung: That’s the trick. Life is not really about drama. That we all do the same shit and going to some market in Arabia is the same as going to Kmart in Miami. People believe they are missing out, that everyone else has this great and exciting life and they don’t. I mean, we all have to get dressed, feed the kids, get our driver’s licence renewed, look up what time the afternoon matinee starts, lose ourselves in entertainment, lose ourselves in intimacy, routine, getting a little too drunk, buying a present for someone you don’t like very much - you feel guilty about not liking them, so you spend a little too much money._ **
> 
> **_Chenle: So, it’s like a National Geographic program on people._ **
> 
> **_Jisung: Exactly._ **
> 
> **_Chenle: I can see it: twenty-four boring hours and a three-minute scene where he’s falling asleep right after._ **
> 
> **_Jisung Exactly. And that would be an exciting episode. Maybe you and your friends can do one of those episodes from Paris. The key to making this work would be in the distribution. Getting the tapes from town to town on time...But it would play continuously twenty-four hours for a year on stations around the world._ **

The waiter finally arrives and gives them the menus.


End file.
